No Hollywood stars showed up to the Venice Film Festival opening on Wednesday, highlighting the scale of the continuing WGA and Sag-AFTRA strikes.
Instead, at the opening press conference, competition jury members Laura Poitras, Damien Chazelle and Martin McDonagh all wore T-shirts that read “Writers Guild on Strike!” in a gesture of solidarity with the American writers' and the actors’ unions.
The strike has been running since May 2, when the Writers Guild of America walked out over a long-running dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers over residual payments for streamed programmes. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists joined the strike on July 13.
As the first major event of the award season, all eyes are on Venice to see how stars with films to promote will handle the delicate balancing act of supporting their projects without breaking picket lines.
A few major stars have already confirmed their attendance, including Mads Mikkelsen, Caleb Landry Jones and Adam Driver, who was granted a waiver by Sag-Aftra as his film Ferrari is an independent production.
Actress Jessica Chastain will also attend, but how or if she will work the T-shirt into her look is anyone's guess. She could forego a gown, and instead wear a tuxedo like the men, or she could pair the top with a floor-length skirt to keep it the centre of attention.
She might, however, duck out of the issue altogether and just enjoy wearing a beautiful dress for the evening. We will have to wait and see.
There was a red carpet on Wednesday, however, and while it was missing the usual host of big names, this shift of focus may prove to be a boon to non-American names, giving them space to shine.
Model Madisin Rian from the Dominican Republic, and the first black woman to be signed to Giorgio Armani Beauty, arrived wearing a shimmering Armani Prive dress.
Fellow model Mariacarla Boscono wore a dramatically laced Dolce & Gabbana.
Director and jury member Jane Campion wore a chic trouser suit by Christian Dior, while the event's patroness Caterina Murino wore a strapless Armani Prive gown with Cartier jewellery.
Lebanese television presenter Raya Abirached, meanwhile, opted for a form-fitting mermaid gown covered in beading.
“Today is the 121st day that the writers in Hollywood have been on strike and the 48th day that the actors have been on strike,” said jury president Chazelle, in explanation of why he was wearing the T-shirt.
“There’s a basic idea that each work of art has value unto itself, it’s not just a piece of content to be put into a pipeline. That idea, of how art can be made sustainable, has been eroded. To me that’s the core issue, that’s where the debate about residuals comes from. It’s about people being remunerated for each piece of art. It’s about art over content.”
He added that many colleagues in Hollywood had made the difficult decision not to attend the Italian festival.
“It’s a very hard time in Hollywood for everyone affected by the standstill. We wanted some way to acknowledge that,” he said.
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KEY%20DATES%20IN%20AMAZON'S%20HISTORY
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Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
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Company%20profile
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Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
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MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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